Spanish Lawmakers Call for Recognition of 'Palestine'

Spain's lawmakers approve a non-binding resolution calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state.

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Elad Benari, 19/11/14 01:15

Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo

Miriam Alster/Flash 90

Spanish lawmakers adopted a motion Tuesday calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state, AFP reported.

The motion submitted by the opposition Socialists asks the conservative government to recognize “Palestine” in coordination with any similar move by the European Union.

It was adopted nearly unanimously in the lower house of parliament, with 319 in favor, two against and one abstention, according to AFP.

The text asks the Spanish government to "recognize Palestine as a state, subject to international law," while adding that the "only solution to the conflict is the co-existence of two states, Israel and Palestine," reached through negotiation.

"It is not binding, it does not set a timeline for the recognition, it gives the government the margin to proceed with the recognition when it feels it will be opportune," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in Brussels on Monday.

"If we want to be effective this recognition must be done in coordination with the European Union," he added.

The resolution follows moves in other European countries intended to increase pressure for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict.

British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on October 13 in favor of a non-binding motion to "recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution".

France, meanwhile, announced last week that lawmakers will vote on November 28 on a proposal by the Socialist Party urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state.

The Palestinian Authority estimates that 134 countries have now recognized Palestine as a state, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.